Last year I posted the news that a group of East Bakersfield High School students and their parents filed a lawsuit against the Kern High School District:

The Kernal, East Bakersfield High School’s school newspaper, was to feature a series on gay issues back in April when Principal John L. Gibson stopped the series from going to print.

“All of a sudden everything comes to a screeching halt,” said Travis Mattias, 17, the paper’s features editor. “We talked about certain cases before and what to do when we have censorship issues…. We just never expected it would happen to us.”

With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, five students and their parents filed a lawsuit seeking publication of the series that was censored by school officials.

The court battle has come to an end.

Judge Sidney P. Chapin is expected to file a court order stating “school officials may turn to censorship only as a last resort” after receiving an agreement between the ACLU of Southern California and the Kern High School District.

The agreement establishes that “all students have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press” and that school officials can use censorship only as a last resort.

“Prior to any restriction of student speech, school officials will consider all practical alternative options, and, where feasible, will implement any such practical alternative options instead of restricting the speech,” the agreement stated.

ACLU/SC attorney Christine Sun represented the six students and their co-plaintiff, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, throughout the struggle.

Sun said, “This is a momentous day. From day one the students knew they had been wrongly censored and vowed to make sure this didn’t happen to the next generation of Kern students. Under this policy, the students would not have censored in the first place.”

A settlement discussion between the ACLU/SC and the District spawned the legally-binding agreement, according to Sun, which included a district free speech policy alteration in which the District trustees drafted and approved in October.

Executive Director and founder of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, Carolyn Laub, said, “This consent decree is a victory for students’ free speech rights and sets an important example for other school districts that school officials must take proactive steps to protect students from harassment and threats of violence before resorting to censorship of students’ free speech.”

See also: “Previously Censored Articles on Gay Issues Go to Press at East Bakersfield High School”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.